Ouch: Ravens give one back

By Peter Schmuck

Jan 10, 2010 | 8:59 AM

The Ravens gave the ball back to the Patriots on a botched punt return and Tom Brady has hooked up with Julian Edelman on a six-yard touchdown pass to make it 24-7, but the Ravens may be second-guessing themselves twice on the offending play. The punt glanced off the back of Tom Zbikowski and appeared to be recovered on the run by Kyle Arrington as he was knocked out of bounds.

Trouble was, Arrington never had complete possession of the ball and coughed it up when he landed out of bounds, but the Ravens did not challenge the play. The replays showed that the ball was never completely secure in Arrington's hands even before he went out of bounds.

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The lack of a challenge was reminiscent of another missed opportunity earlier this year at Heinz Field -- the apparent touchdown pass to Derrick Mason that was ruled incomplete and also went unchallenged because it happened so far away from the Ravens coaching staff.

Now, the Ravens have turned the ball over again, so I guess we'll have some suspense before this is over.